Introduction

Read the feedback, notes from the last show

Begin recording

Introduction and description of the podcast, goals, modus operandi.

What Eclecticist is an investigation of everything from a British perspective by two brothers who consider themselves to be relatively normal chaps. Generally speaking we are laypeople but occasionally some topics may stray into arenas of expertise.

How We choose a topic of interest, spend a little time researching it, have a discussion (this podcast), publish the notes.

Why The main benefits of doing this is to understand the world a little better and to prompt further thought and discussion from our listeners.

The topic we will be discussing in this show is Car Design

Topic Overview

When the automobile became a commodity, manufacturers felt pressure to not only improve function, but to 'improve' appearance. There are a number of contributing factors in determining a car's aesthetics – the style of the age and technological advances are just two obvious examples. Even with that in mind, manufacturers appear to burn a lot of energy creating generations of cars which bear as little (superficial) resemblance as possible to their predecessors – so much so that any car plucked out of the automotive timeline is essentially a snapshot of the zeitgeist. Why is this necessary? And despite the steep ramp in change over time across the board, why does it appear that so many manufacturers collectively churn out the same car? Laziness or perhaps cars are now fully evolved? Who knows. There was a time when cars didn’t all look the same. For example in the 1970s a Citroen looked like a spaceship, a Mercedes a breezeblock, A Jag E-type a phallus. These days if you gaffa tape over the badge, it could be anything.

Off Topic

(What we’re not talking about.)

Rwandan genocide

Titan

Mario Van Peebles

Cosplay

Engines, performance in any great detail.

Customised cars

Talking Points

History

Why did the design of automobiles go beyond making them work better?

Philosophy

Cars having souls

Cars being an extension of one’s personality

Manufacturers tapping into the mind of their target market.

Differences by market, culture eg, the Brits loving wood. BMW’s E9 series had a wooden rail along the dash whereas cars for other markets had no such bar.

General

Form vs. function. Ergonomics ‘The scientific study of the efficiency of man in his working environment.’ OED